A girl stands in floodwaters in a neighbourhood at Boeung Kak lake yesterday.

Several hundred Boeung Kak lake villagers saw their homes flooded in knee-deep water over the weekend as heavy rains continued to pummel the capital. Mie Mom, a village 20 resident in Daun Penh district’s Srah Chak commune, said that polluted water flowed up to her knees inside her house on Saturday night and prevented her family from sleeping. “My village has never flooded like this before,” she said.

Kaon Chhengleang blamed the flooding on blocked irrigation systems caused by the infill of sand by real-estate developer Shukaku Inc. “The rubbish and the poll-uted waste are pooling in our homes, and it is harmful to our health,” she said. Kaon Chhengleang said vill-agers were also concerned about their electrical cords, which were dangerously close to being submerged.